SENSEX, NIFTY50 trade on a flat note; HDFC Bank falls for second straight session

The Indian equity benchmarks were trading on a flat note on Tuesday, July 21, as gains in ICICI Bank, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, IndiGo, Ultratech Cement and ITC were offset by losses in HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Eternal and Sun Pharma.

As of 9:26 am, the SENSEX was up 11 points at 77,720 and NIFTY50 index was unchanged at 24,237.

Japan's Nikkei climbed 2.75%, China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.62%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.06% and South Korea's KOSPI index surged 4.5%.

Back home, eight of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading higher led by the NIFTY Media index's 0.5% gain. Select IT, auto, FMCG, metal, PSU bank and realty shares were also witnessing buying interest.

On the flip side, consumer durables, private bank, pharma, and financial services shares were facing a mild selling pressure.

Broader markets outperforming their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index advanced 0.17% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index rose 0.45%.

Among the individual shares, Coal India-arm, Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI) shares surged over 4% after the company posted a 54% year-on-year (YoY) rise in its net profits in the April to June quarter earnings for the financial year ending 2026-27.

CMPDI posted a 53.8% rise in net profit (attributable to the owners of the company) to ₹116.27 crore in the first quarter of the fiscal year ending 2026-27, compared YoY with ₹75.56 crore in the same quarter of the previous year.

Tech Mahindra was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose 1.5% to ₹1,600. Ultratech Cement, Shriram Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Eicher Motors, JSW Steel, Nestle India, JSW Steel and IndiGo also rose between 0.74% and 1.4%.

On the other hand, HDFC Bank, Eternal, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Cipla, HDFC Life, Reliance Industries, Jio Financial Services, Tata Steel and State Bank of India were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,696 shares were trading higher while 1,105 were declining on the NSE.